1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a replacement toner cartridge management apparatus which manages replacement toner cartridges to be loaded in place of toner cartridges loaded on an image forming apparatus; a replacement toner cartridge management system which employs the replacement toner cartridge management apparatus; an image forming apparatus employed in the replacement toner cartridge management system; a replacement toner cartridge management method; and recording mediums.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Conventionally, if the remaining consumable resource in a consumable unit loaded on an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copier, an electrophotographic printer, or an electrophotographic multifunctional machine called MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), for example, the amount of remaining toner in a toner cartridge is lower than a predetermined level, the image forming apparatus determines that the toner cartridge will run out of toner in a short time (the toner cartridge is nearly empty) and displays a message stating that the toner cartridge is nearly empty on a display panel provided thereon so that the user can notice it. Noticing this message, the user prepares a replacement toner cartridge, or places an order for a replacement toner cartridge if not having it in stock.
Meanwhile, in recent years, an image forming apparatus which is connected with a management apparatus to exchange information with has been more commonly used in a remote management system (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-297969). In many cases, a retailer of image forming apparatuses or a provider of office supplies have their own management apparatus in their own place, in order to collect, store, and manage for their business, various types of information including toner near empty information from a plurality of image forming apparatuses in their users' places. Being connected with the image forming apparatuses, the management apparatus is capable of recognizing a nearly empty toner cartridge or a new toner cartridge having been loaded thereon.
In some cases, the management apparatus is further connected with an order receiving apparatus receiving orders for a replacement toner cartridge (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-271231). In such a case, the management apparatus further transmits an order to the order receiving apparatus, so that a replacement toner cartridge will be delivered to the user. In other words, this is exactly a system to automatically deliver replacement toner cartridges to users while they need not bother to place an order for them.
Such an automatic order and delivery system is very useful if the manufacturer and the user are in an agreement about billing and payment for the use of an image forming apparatus. In accordance with such an agreement, the user pay a service fee for making one copy, which includes a charge for the toner used for the copy. That is, it is convenient for the user to pay a service fee simply depending on the number of copies regardless of how many replacement toner cartridges they ordered and have a replacement toner cartridge automatically delivered without the need for placing an order for it. At the same time, the manufacturer can expect a benefit from saving the costs of handling order transactions.
There are some such systems which have been developed which automatically place an order and deliver a replacement toner cartridge according to information such as a notice of toner empty from an image forming apparatus which is connected to a management apparatus. In such a system, a replacement toner cartridge generally will be delivered when an image forming apparatus detects a new toner cartridge having been loaded thereon or a nearly empty toner cartridge. Furthermore, an image forming apparatus generally detects a new toner cartridge having been loaded thereon, by having a fuse or the like of the new toner cartridge cut off due to setting, or by obtaining information from a memory chip of the new toner cartridge.
While such systems which automatically place an order and deliver a replacement toner cartridge have been developed, there is a need to finish the use of such a feature to detect a new toner cartridge, including a memory chip and a fuse, in order to reduce the costs of toner cartridges.
Without using such a toner cartridge detection feature, an image forming apparatus needs to examine after detecting an empty toner cartridge, if its sub-hopper is refilled with toner, in order to judge whether or not a new toner cartridge has been loaded. And it is not convenient that before or without detecting an empty toner cartridge, an image forming apparatus cannot judge whether or not it is replaced with a new one. As described above, an image forming apparatus cannot successfully detect a new toner cartridge having been loaded thereon, unless the new toner cartridge has a new toner cartridge detection feature.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.